good morning. losing hope. talks over proposals to end the government shutdown and avoid a default break down in the house, leaving a potential resolution up to the senate. a rather sunday session is planned for today, but will it end with a deal? mystery in new mexico. several teens from a ranch for at-risk youth still missing this morning, nearly 48 hours after they disappeared. this as investigators look into allegations of abuse against the owner of that ranch. and "50 shades" shakeup, the controversial actor chosen to play the lead character now says he's out. we'll tell you why sunday,

october 13, 2013. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today" with lester holt and erica hill live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. and welcome to "today" on this sunday morning. i'm erica hill. >> i'm lester holt alongside dylan dreyer and craig melvin in for jenna. today's top story, the government shutdown is now 13 days old. >> that's not all at this point. we're now just four days away from the country starting to run out of money to pay its bills. >> still there is no deal on either crisis and no sense this morning that lawmakers are any closer to reaching an agreement. kristen welker is at the white house to tell us more. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: lester, good morning. any hopes for a deal now rest with the senate where leaders will be back at the negotiating table today.

with the markets set to open tomorrow, everyone from economists to average americans are hoping that progress comes soon. it's day 13 of the government shutdown and the public's patients with washington has just about run out. >> enough is enough. we need to stop all this craziness. >> reporter: the gridlock hurting small business owners like this florida-based fisherman. >> the park being closed mean we can't go fishing. that means we can't make any money. >> reporter: on capitol hill, a flurry of activity saturday with senate leaders, democrat harry reid and willing mitch mcconnell spearheading the conversations. >> the conversations were extremely cordial, very preliminary, nothing conclusive. >> reporter: the president met with top senators late in the day but no deal in sight. still more lawmakers are calling for compromise. >> the voters have put in place split government. that means you don't get everything you want. >> reporter: one bright spot this weekend, the statue of

liberty, mt. rushmore and grand canyon is reopening thanks to state and private funding. arizona's republican governor jan brewer had harsh words for all of washington. >> the state is stepping up, doing their job for them. >> reporter: with the nation just four days away from potentially defaulting on its loans if lawmakers don't raise the debt ceiling, there are deep worries about the economy. in an exclusive interview with david gregory airing on "meet the press," imf chief christine lagarde said the impact would be felt far and wide. >> that would bring about so much uncertainty, so much risk of disruption, that the standing of the u.s. economy would, again, be at risk. >> reporter: economists warn if a deal remains illusive, the markets could start to get jittery. democrats say they want the government reopened and the debt ceiling increased. republicans say they want concessions like scaling back a tax related to the president's

health care law. erica, back to sglou kristen welker at the white house, thanks. david gregory is moderator of "meet the press." nice to see you back. >> good morning, thanks. >> we're nearly two tweaks into the government shutdown, four days away from the default. is time running out? >> it is because the default is coming on thursday. christine lagarde who ju just heard in the piece, the president, all business leaders saying please, congress, don't mess with this risk of default because of the economic shocks that would follow. we've been watching the markets. they've been pretty tame. i think that could change as you get deeper into the upcoming week. >> a lot of concern over that that we could start to see the change as quickly as tomorrow. in terms of time running out, even if there is some sort of agreement in the senate, there is no guarantee that would be agreed to in the house. >> right. that's absolutely true. house republicans remain pretty set on that. but let's focus on the positive here. it is in the senate.

they have more of a history of being able to wheel and deal a little bit and perhaps can create momentum that would make the house -- put the house in a very difficult position to say no. the other glimmer of hope is we're talking about money, no longer talking about getting rid of obama care. i mean that from a point of view of something that could be negotiated and compromise. we're talking about spending levels. this is typically what congress fights about and what they shut the government down over. >> what about the president's strategy here in all of this? >> i think you have to look at it from the point of view of a president who says i don't have to stand form re-election again, i'm worried about the few tower of the presidency so i have to have a firm line here. there's also politics. he knew this deadline was coming. i think he wanted to kind of work the republicans to say, look, they have a bad strategy, trying to take over obama care, repeal it. the public is not for that, even though there's nota lot of

opposition to obama care. he has larger gains than the immediate default. this is very risky even from his point of view. two years ago the president was held in low esteem by the public as they got closer to default. >> david, we'll check in with you later for more of what you have coming up on "meet the press." officials in india are assessing the damage after the powerful cyclone slammed onshore saturday. despite the destruction, there are very few reports of deaths. dylan is here with a look at that. sounds like the evacuations paid off. >> they certainly did. this storm was extremely powerful when it came onshore. the evacuation order for hundreds of thousands of people seemed to have saved a lot of lives. the full fury of the cyclone slammed into the heavy populated eastern shore of india saturday, whipping the coastline with winds of 120 miles per hour, as strong as a cat 3 hurricane.

the storm surge is what usually causes the most damage. this one is estimated at a whopping 11 feet. at least a half million people fled to higher ground and huddled in makeshift shelters. this man says his house has been destroyed. power is out in much of the vov vince where the storm hit. the cyclone was enormous by any standard. this nasa photo shows the system stretching over nearly the entire bay of bengal, a monster measures 750 miles across, nearly the distance from new york to chicago. its power similar to hurricane katrina in 2005. the last time a storm of this size hit this area of india, back in 1999, 10,000 people lost their lives. indian authorities prepared for a huge storm, but the job of search and rescue won't be easy. >> there are a lot of people, farmers, fishermen, they live in small places. getting them by only radio --

>> so now it's all about the cleanup. the good news is this storm is pretty much wiped out at this point. it was at one point again the whole size of the bay of ben gal. you can see the distinct eye of this storm, at one point nearly equivalent to a category 5 hurricane. as soon as it made landfall yesterday morning, its weakened in itself. there are more questions surrounding the mysterious disappearance of a group of teenagers from a new mexico ranch for at-risk youth. some of the teens are back home with their parents, but not all. as investigators look for those other missing teens, there are troubling allegations of abuse at the ranch raising new questions. kristen dahlgren is live outside the ranch in new mexico with more this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, erica. it appears the teens are slowly being returned to their families. investigators are still very concerned. this is remote new mexico. we are about three hours south of albuquerque, not much out

here. normally teens are living at this 30,000 acre ranch. on friday when authorities got here, it was completely abandoned. tierra blanca ranch, a sprawling home for troubled youth billed on its website as a haven for those at risk. >> we'll work with you and make you a part of our family. >> reporter: this morning, the focus of a search and investigation after nine boys were reported missing on friday. >> when you suddenly show up to the place and everybody is gone, it's of huge concern to us. >> reporter: authorities issued an amber alert for the teens, aged between 13 and 17, fearing they might be in danger. ranch owner scott chandler was also gone. at least four boys were returned to their families saturday. as search continued, more questions were surfacing about what took place here. authorities went to the ranch to execute a search warrant and court order to return the boys

to their parents after years of abuse allegations. chandler was recently the focus of an investigation by kob reporter. >> they were torchered, beat, threatened to be castrated if they didn't complete all the work. >> reporter: ryan morgan was too emotional to tell the story of his alleged beating. his friend did. >> knuckling him repetitively, started just -- over the forehood. >> reporter: mark fleming lived at the ranch for two years and sat down with nbc news on saturday. >> there were kids that had to be in handcuffs and shackles throughout the entire day and while they were sleeping. >> reporter: barbara heller sent her son there for treatment, a decision she regrets. >> you go out fas a parent to d the best thing for your kid and it blows up in your face. >> reporter: chandler says he's suing to try to halt interference. before he disappeared, he

wouldn't answer questions about alleged abuse. a lawyer for chandler says the teens are safe and insist they were on a regularly scheduled outing. former residents have come out in support saying this place changed their life, saying he would trust scott chandler to hold him off the empire state building. >> quite a declaration there. let's get a check of some of the other top stories. >> craig melvin standing by with that. >> good morning to you. new york police crack a cold case that plagued them for more than two decades. they've charged 52-year-old conrado juarez in the death of baby hope. police say he admitted to sexually abusing and smotherings her. they say a new tip and dna tip led them to juarez. the girl was 4-year-old angelica

castillo. word of a so-called insider attack on u.s. troops. another one. officials say an afghan man shot at american soldiers in east afghanistan. he killed at least one of them. it comes just a day after news that u.s. and afghan leaders reached an agreement in principle allowing american troops to stay in afghanistan after next year. we'd like to correct a story we reported on saturday. we told you about a costco store in san francisco recalling chicken because of salmonella poisoning. we wanted to correct a mistake. we said the salmonella outbreak has killed more than 300 people. that's not accurate. it's made 300 people sick. our apologies. a potentially deadly sea water bacteria is raising concerns in florida this morning. mark potter has more on that. >> reporter: henry went fishing for crabs near ormond beach,

florida. back home his wife patty saw something wrong. >> during the night he woke up. there was a small abrasion on his ankle. we thought it was a spider bite. >> reporter: buy bimorning he was in terrible pain and rushed to the hospital as the infection spread. >> it just ravaged his body so fast. >> reporter: two days later he died, the victim of a flesh eating bacteria commonly found in warm saltwater. doctors say there are two ways to be infected by it. >> one is from an open sore on the body, typically the legs, where you walk out into the warm salty or brackish water. >> reporter: it can also happen by eating tainted uncooked shell fish, especially oysters. this year 32 known infections in florida and ten deaths, although the cdc says the threat extend along the gulf coast. doctors say this bacteria can be

especially dangerous for people with already compromised immune systems. but for most people there's little to worry about. >> experts caution anyone with cuts or sores to stay out of the water and to cook shell fish, especially people already unhealthy, to avoid this warm water threat. mark potter, nbc news, miami. and smashing pumpkins? well, it may be okay for the sake of science. the annual pumpkin chunkin festival. they launch those gourds and watch them explode. >> that is good stuff. >> that's how they spent their saturday there. >> that's what we need to do after halloween with the remnants of the jack-o'-lantern we carve. >> some of those contraptions are pretty' elaborate. >> some of thome them were a few centuries old. >> the one we showed was not the

elaborate one. >> those and the medieval torture devices both work. dylan is back with a check of our national forecast. >> hello again. most of the country looking okay today. we've got a couple of spotty showers, looking at our futurecast we are still going to see more heavy rains across parts of texas. we're also going to see some snow, especially back through wyoming and into areas like south dakota where we are going to see in rapid city the snow start to spread eastward. here we are at noontime on monday. then the snow does start to spread into the rapid city area. we are unfortunately going to see another several inches of rainfall possible in parts of texas. it's this area right across central texas where we would end up with more flood watches and warnings because of the amount of rain we're going to see. but then heading back to the north and west where the snow is going to fall, it looks like this area just north of casper, we could end up with another a foot of snowfall and a few inches into rapid city as we go

into especially tonight into mo and that is your latest forecast. erica? >> dylan, thanks. up next on "today." >> dare devils who just can't up [ female announcer ] you get sick, you can't breathe through your nose... suddenly you're a mouth breather. a mouth breather! how do you sleep like that? you dry up, your cold feels even worse. well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth.

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the folks who do this take their lives in their hands with nothing more than a wind suit and then ultimately pull a parachute. it's a dangerous sport and could be deadly. this year they faced off in a high stakes race. ian williams has more from the winged suit competition in china. >> reporter: they gathered this weekend on top of a rugged chinese mountain, 14 of the world's top wing suit flyers, five of them american, preparing to compete for the title of fastest on the planet, but they did so in the shadow of tragedy after the death during practice last week of veteran hungarian flier victor kovatz. >> he would have wanted us to continue. that's just what we do. >> reporter: then it was game on. >> the wind conditions are good. >> reporter: the opening heats. launching themselves into the valley below. >> diving, diving, diving, diving and then pouring through that turn.

>> reporter: streaking across the sky like jet fighters, dicing with debt before deploying the parachutes that would bring them safely to ground. getting the launch right is vital. it takes a lot of concentration, a lot of skill and an awful lot of nerve. >> why do you do this? >> it's fun. >> why do you do this? >> because it makes us happy. >> reporter: among the americans, ellen brennan, the world's fastest flying woman. >> the nerves build up. every step i take towards the edge it calms down a little bit. >> reporter: john devore whose movie credits include "ironman 3" it made for a nail biting finish with fractions of a second separating the top flyers. the american finished a fifth of a second behind the winner. colombian jonathan florez. the competition was another milestone for this young sport.

for today, ian williams, china. >> seems to me the victory is walking away alive. a shake up for the "fifty shades of grey." a shake up for the "fifty shades of grey." who will play christian ♪ as your life changes, fidelity is there for your personal economy, helping you readjust along the way, refocus as careers change and kids head off to college, and revisit your investments as retirement gets closer. wherever you are today, fidelity's guidance can help you fine-tune your personal economy. start today with a free one-on-one review of your retirement plan.

when the casting lineup of the movie version of "fifty shades of grey" was unveiled, some didn't like charlie hunnam

as christian gray. this morning they may be happy to hear he has dropped out. a search is on again for a star. craig is over in the orange room with reactions. are the fans happy? >> some are happy. some won't ever be happy. channing tatum, ryan gosling. we put this question on our website last night, and our twitter feed was completely overwhelmed. this is the tweet that started it all. e.l. james, the author, okay, girls and boys, hold on to your hats. it's about to get serious. ian sommer holder and matt bolder almost look like the same person, but they are not. they overwhelmingly got the most tweets. so bummed about this, but i love henry kavl. ♪ [ villain ] well mr. baldwin... it appears our journey has come to a delightful end.

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good morning. i am jennifer franciotti. the time is 8:26. it is back to the store for food stamp recipients who couldn't check out because of their electronic benefits card. a computer glitch prevented millions from accessing their account in 17 states. xerox who runs the system says the system has been restored. the store manager at local food king supermarket says the glitch sparked confusion among countless customers. >> they are very upset they can't get their food. i am being told i have customers

calling me on the phone saying computer some places are going through some places they are not going through. >> in maryland low income people disabled homeless and seniors used the food stamps. 13 people are homeless this morning after the fire in the edgewood area of hartford county. the fire started before 9 last night at a town hall in the 1700 block of judy way. firefighters put out the fire within 30 minutes. there was significant damage to the home where the fire was believed to have been started and minor damage to the home next door. a man is dead after a crash in a car fire in owens mills. according to police the man was trapped in a car he hit a utility poll and a tree early saturday morning. the man is in his late 30's but they have yet to confirm his

>> we have had a few showers pass through the city so far. right now most of them are moving west into virginia and another batch down to our south in saint mary's county. we may escape the day mostly rain free. we will keep it in the first half of the day. 66 to 70 and cloudy. tomorrow morning wake up to a bit of drizzle once again. they try to break out this afternoon. it will be short lived. a slight chance for showers there a better chance for showers thursday night to friday. we will see temperatures warm up into the low 70s. >> thanks for joining us. see you again in 25 minutes.

it's my 10th birthday. i want to say high to reed, evan and katy in jupiter. we just finished our mbas, now we're celebrating on the "today" show. i'm debby from virginia, i want to wish my daughter katy a happy 18th birthday. >> happy birthday katy! nice crowd getting into the moment here. we appreciate them on this sunday morning, october 13, 2013. little brisk out here. >> it is a little brisk.

>> coats came flying out. >> i made the mistake yesterday of not having a coat on. i learned my lesson. >> i followed your lead. >> and you do the weather. >> good point. >> minor detail. thanks for being here. we have a lot to cover this next half hour. the story of madeleine mccann has been in the news a lot recently. we'll tell you more about promising signs perhaps in the search for the little girl and new developments in the international hunt. we'll also take you to a pretty spectacular sight to see in the sky. more than 500 balloons at the albuquerque international balloon fiesta. i'm going to introduce you to one family, three generations of licensed pilots, all the way from grandpa down to his granddaughter who is just 17 years old. also ahead, you know how sometimes you're up late at night and come across one of those infomercials, and you can't turn away? turns out there's a lot of strategy, a lot of time, a lot

of work that goes into getting you hooked. we'll take a look behind the scenes at how it all happens. you start off thinking no way, i'm never going to buy that. by the end you're like, i need this. >> didn't you buy something the other night? >> i can show you my drawer in my bathroom. >> i think i need this. >> it's amazing what you need at 3:00 in the morning. also coming up, take a look at the newest guinness world record holder. he's norman the dog. we'll tell you exactly what he did to make it into the books. >> oh, look at that! >> that is one cute dog. >> yeah, he is. >> he can just take over the last half hour of the show. >> he really could. first, you a check of the weather. >> yes, i development besides it being a little chilly, we also have a couple of birthdays here, 10th birthday. where are you from? >> jupiter, florida. >> do you feel any different now that it's double digits? >> yes.

>> do you feel great for being 60? >> i feel great being 60. we'll see pretty rainy weather in parts of the middle of the country, especially in texas where we had a lot of rain yesterday, up to three inches in parts of texas. we're looking at another several inches of rain especially later today and into tomorrow as well. thunderstorms across texas. tomorrow we have a better chance of seeing strong storms across parts of kansas into oklahoma. we'll watch out for stronger storms out that way and snow, perhaps several inches of s

. today's top spot comes to us from craig melvin's hometown. his mom betty is sure to be watching right now. this is from our friends at wis in columbia, south carolina. this is for the dog lovers. it's pooch a palooza, make sure to stop by this doggy-themed festival. there will be dogs up for adoption as well as a dog fashion show and kissing booth. it's been more than six years since madeleine mccann disappeared while she was on vacation with her family in portugal. but this morning there's new hope in the case as her parents speak out on tv. annabel roberts has more. >> reporter: could this be the key to solving the mystery of the disappearance of masculine mccann, the little girl collecting tennis balls for her parents shortly before she vanished, now a crucial part of

a reconstruction set to be broadcast in britain. it's been six years since the 3-year-old vanished from a portuguese resort, left sleeping in this vacation apartment while her parents ate dinner close by. british police say the accepted sequence of events may be wrong. >> the careful and critical analysis of the timeline has been absolutely key. primarily we're focused on the area between 8:30 and 10:00. we know at 8:30, that was the time that mr. and ms. mccann went down for their dinner, and we know at around 10:00 p.m., that is when ms. mccann found that madeleine was missing. >> for her parents, missing madeleine does not get easier. >> when it's a special occasion, when you should be your happiest and madeleine is not tlrks that's when it really hits home. >> when you have big family occasions, it's real. >> reporter: the recent discovery of the three women abducted by ariel castro in ohio

show people do come home. police used cell phone data to see who was in the area when she disappeared and are releasing computer generated sketches of men they urgently want to find. they're hoping the reconstruction of her final moments broadcast here on "crime watch" will jog memories and held solve this mystery once and for all. for today, annabel roberts, nbc news, london. this past year is one of triumph for a young georgia woman who battled back after losing all four limbs to a flesh eating bacteria. this weekend she came one step closer to regaining her independence. here is michelle fran sken. >> i'm excited and nervous. >> reporter: after a year of waiting, amy copeland has a new companion, and that companion comes with a wet nose and wagging tail. >> it's great to know she's going to be mine. >> reporter: the labradoodle service dog will remind her when to take her medications and even

fetch them for her. trainers gave the dog a year of intensive and specialized training. >> she has to learn not only to bring things and pick up dropped things, but she also had to learn what things are, like what a towel is a, what a bottle of juice is. so we had to teach her all of that plus object recognition. >> reporter: she officially became amy's at a fund-raiser that included a petting zoo, music festival and 5k race. it's been over a year since the georgia grad student was injured in a zip lining accident and nearly died after the gash in her leg became infected with a rare flesh eating bacteria. doctors had to am pew tate her left leg, right foot and both hands. >> i'm so excited. it looks great. >> reporter: this spring amy received a set of high-tech prosthetic hands. now bell will add to that freedom. >> it will make it easier for me

in the short term making up things off the ground and also in the long term provide companionship. >> reporter: and give her love along the way. for today, michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. up next, the magic behind those infomercials that always seem to entice us to buy whatever they're selling, whether we really need it or not, right after these messages.

. this morning in "today's consumer" a look at the science behind the late night infomercials you just can't turn away from. our consumer correspondent janice lieberman got a chance to see how they're put together. >> they get you. >> absolutely. >> we were given the rare opportunity to see what goes into the planning and producing of an infomercial. what we saw was a big operation with proven results. >> five designer colors. >> eight blades. >> and there's even more.

were it's a $300 billion a year industry amtd at getting you to buy, buy, buy. >> a $100 value yours free. >> reporter: even if you had no intention of doing so. >> for free. >> reporter: advertising expert martin lindstrom says you will. >> every infomercial is designed very carefully to convince your brain that this is the moment you have to buy stuff. dopamine is only released for three to four minutes. then is disappears and you don't have that rush. >> reporter: husband and wife duo ken and barbara kerry are behind more than 600 direct response tv campaigns that have generated more than $4 billion in sales. >> what makes it so compelling for us to watch an infomercial. >> we focus on solving problems and demonstrating products. i think that's what makes it interesting. >> reporter: today with paid celebrity endorser marie osmond

they're filming an infomercial for the ready made emergency food company wise. before this 28 1/2 minutes of persuasive magic happens, all this goes on behind the scenes. the kerrys say the infomercial costs between $500,000 and $1 million to produce. from soup to nuts, the project will take six months to complete. >> some people perceive infomercials as sleazy. >> i don't do anything that i don't believe in. i believe in preparing for your family to survive something that could be absolutely devastating. >> reporter: do you think your integrity and your name will sell this product? >> i hoped that would be the case, i think that's why they came to me, because of the integrity of my name. i know i was sold on them when i saw their integrity.

>> it's almost like you're talking to your neighbor. >> reporter: that's not to say the products pushed aren't valuable to the people who purchase them. >> no power, no food, no water. >> reporter: just ask michael doherty. >> most people don't believe testimonials on infomercials are real and are for real person. you're a real person? >> i'm definitely real. i've never been paid. >> reporter: real strategies adding up to real profits. >> please call right now. >> reporter: experts say before you make an immediate purchase, wait and think about it. do online research first. it's easy to weed out the bad products through others' feedback. >> do some end up in stores? >> if you can hold out, you'll be able to get them cheaper and not pay shipping and handling. it's a pain in the neck to return after those infomercials. >> good to know. janice, thanks very much. up, up and away with three

generations who take their love of hot air balloons to new heights. first these messages.

♪ my beautiful balloon for nine days every fall, the skies above albuquerque, new mexico are filled with bright colors and big balloons for the international balloon festival there. people come from all over the world to see and take part. among them, one very special family with three generations of licensed ballooning pilots. >> over the course of the fiesta near think three-quarters of a million people turn out to watch more than 500 balloons come to life, many of them with a style and a shape all their own. >> somehow the balloon provides a release. i enjoy the freedom of it. >> ray bare flew his first balloon nearly 40 years ago, starting a family tradition that includes now three generations of pilots. the youngest, his granddaughter erin was 17. >> which came first, driver's

license or pilot's license? >> pilot's license. >> are you more comfortable piloting a car or a balloon? >> a balloon. >> in these circles, the bare name carries a lot of weight. >> it's a marginal amount of pressure. i know if i do anything wrong, it's not only on my head, but my father and grandfather. but also i found that people assume that since i was trained by my father and grandfather, i just must be an amazing pilot. >> not only do we enjoy the family legacy of ballooning, but i think for young people especially, it teaches skills that you cannot learn in other places. >> reporter: the balloon or envelope is made of lightweight rip-stop nylon, more commercial balloons are 70 feet tall and weigh 250 pounds. the baskets or gondolas come in at 400 pounds. specialty shapes can be much larger. >> how tall is this balloon itself? >> lengthwise i think it's 120

feet. widthwise probably 70 feet. >> reporter: no matter the size, though, they all get off the ground the same way. >> how does this work? >> it's really simple. the warmer the balloon is, the more weight it can lift. when you heat the balloon to a certain temperature, then it would lift all the basket and passengers and all the weight of the balloon itself. >> reporter: ideal conditions are cool and calm with winds of no more than 12 miles an hour, allowing these majestic creations to float on the breeze, slowly dancing across the sky. what's it like to watch not only your sons but also your granddaughter pilot these balloons? >> i'm pretty proud. >> reporter: a passion that runs deep in this family. they are pretty special family. everybody within the fiesta knows of the bare family. this is a major impact on the city of albuquerque, big sense

of pride, links in close to $11 million and creates the equivalent of 1,600 full-time jobs for the festival. >> one of those balloons, how much does something like that cost? >> the one we walked in, i think ray said that was about $85,000 when it was purchased. they can be very, very expensive. >> my dad is supposed to be in a hot air balloon right now. i told him to call me if the weather was good enough to go because he was really nervous. >> when you're in one, you are the wind. you don't feel the sensation, it's just like you're part of the air. you can hear everything on the ground. it's amazing. >> it's really dependent on the winds. wednesday morning they were able to fly when we were there. thursday morning it was iffy for a little while. they inflated the balloons but they were tethered because the winds were right around 12 miles an hour. they could tell -- you would understand this more than me,

dylan -- they could tell there was a layer of warmth that would make it a little too risky. >> the five-day forecast? >> dylan will have the five-day forecast. norman the dog rides his scooter into the guinness book of world records. >> we are in love with norman officially. >> look at this guy. officia[ female announcer ] is your conditioner doing the job? ♪

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a dog in georgia named norman has set a new record for being the fastest dog ever on a scooter, clocking in at a record time of anything. >> "saturday night live" there having a little fun with the

latest guinness world record holder, norman, a french sheepdog. he's 4 years old. rode his way not only on the scooter but into all of our hearts. >> norman and his mom and trainer karen cobb is here. you've had norman since he was about eight weeks old. >> right. >> did you know he had talent from the get-go. >> i knew he was special. he picked things up really quickly. i had no idea any of this would happen. >> how did he first end up on a scooter? >> the breed is a little skittish so you want to introduce him to strange objects. we had him on the kids' toys onm the back yard. one was a scooter. he loved it. >> the folks at guinness book of world records found out about it and contacted you and said what? >> they were interesting in setting a scooter riding record. >> norman didn't object. he wasn't worried about the fame --

>> he likes attention. >> norman got the record. we actually have jamie here from the guinness book of world records. >> with an incredible time of 20.77 seconds earlier this summer. i'm pleased to present norman with the official guinness world records title for the fastest 30 meters on a scoot erbie a dog. congratulations. >> thank you so much. >> does the certificate have a treat in it? that's the only way norman is going to care. >> i think he wants the treat more than the plag. >> do we get to have norman show us the trick? >> sure. >> norman, scoot. good job. >> hurray for norman. how great is that. >> very impressive. not to outdo, we want to go to craig in the orange room to see what some of our viewers' pets can do. >> lester, norman apparently

inspiring pets all over the world. check this out. this is olga. olga rides horses according to linda, also wearing denim as well. there's olga. this is actually mr. goombaroo, he also has his own facebook page as well. lots of pictures of the hamster in lots of different outfits. this is our personal favorite. kiwi, the amazon parrot. take it away. >> kiwi, can you say hello. >> hello. >> what's your favorite game to play? >> cricket, cricket, cricket, cricket. >> can you sing for us? ♪ who let the dogs out >> that's good stuff. >> all impressive. not more man though, guys. >> it's tough to be norman. >> i have a dog that can do

nothing. >> my dog chases his tail. coming up, a little later on "meet the press," we have more on the shutdown fight here with the government. are we moving closer now to the brink of an agreement or brink of default? an exclusive interview with the head of the international monetary fund, christine lagarde. former defense secretary leon panetta joins me. plus our political roundtable joins us. all coming up on "meet the press." >> we want to thank norman and carrie and jamie for being here. you can see more record breakers in the 2014 guinness book of world records. >> i think norman should scoot to whoosh wash. if anybody can bring them together, norman can. >> that's a big dog, 70 pounds. thanks, norman. thanks for being here

a oo coming up next steps you should mato do to make your heating system ready for winter. >> we will talk about how long the rain chances last when we come back in the forecast. >> from costumes to home and lawn decor we have halloween fun for the whole family. like a burden.